A conversation with Christiaan van Oord, House of Quantum’s new Director
Christiaan van Oord is the recently appointed director for the House of Quantum. House of Quantum is building a national campus for the Quantum technology ecosystem, and Christiaan’s entrepreneurial experience and business acumen will play an important role in the House’s next phase of growth. In an interview with Christiaan, he shares his ideas on how House of Quantum’s new facilities will be designed to support quantum startups as well as showcase the Netherlands’ Quantum technology to the world.
Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your background?
I’m an entrepreneur with twenty-five years of experience. I’m involved in contracting as it relates to the real estate, automotive, petrochemical, and energy sectors. I’ve been interested in the potential of quantum technology and the role it will have in the future. I’m hoping to help with R&D, infrastructure, and collaboration support for startups in the field. While I do not have a quantum background, I’ll provide business leadership and experience outside of the technical space, to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective.
What does the House of Quantum plan to achieve and what would you like to achieve?
For this year we’re focused on finding the right tenants and building. We have several buildings now and new ones in development. We are expanding our national campus, with spaces in Delft, Twente, Eindhoven, Leiden, and Amsterdam. Our new facilities will be transformative spaces for quantum startups with special maker spaces, plug-and-play quantum refrigerators and even restaurant and demo spaces.
The goal will be to support R&D and company growth through the implementation of functional spaces, and technical environments, and fostering collaboration. We would like to further open and grow the House of Quantum both in terms of spaces available and expanding the community, by, for example, hosting more events. The new Delft building will be an entry point where everything comes together - to discover and learn more about our ecosystem, begin the R&D journey, and collaborate as a community.
Why is House of Quantum expanding?
We are growing our ecosystem, after opening our first location in November 2022. We know that the quantum space is developing very fast, so we’re bringing in new facilities with additional labs and technical spaces to support growing companies in our ecosystem. Our newest location “Science House” will be double the size of our first. The future Delft building will be five times the size and will house a field lab to teach students and an open lab to show the world what is possible in quantum technology. It’s important to showcase the relevancy of Quantum and the role the Netherlands plays in this field for visiting delegations and dignitaries from all over the world.
How does the House of Quantum work?
There are three primary flavors of membership: you can be a Community member, co-worker, or Resident. Plus, we offer a Virtual+ membership to be a part of our online community. In addition to our spaces and community, we aim to support our member companies with additional supporting services, such as access to funding and special events. This is done in collaboration with additional initiatives of Quantum Delta NL, to provide a full spectrum of support from the ecosystem as a whole. For example, we will be very active at Quantum Meets ‘24 in June. We want to provide companies with the whole business ecosystem and to be relevant in the community. The Netherlands is a perfect place to have a quantum business in terms of tax incentives, excellent digital communication infrastructure, and talent from the Universities.
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